Unintended Consequences
by Atten Daith
Summary: Kaylee's idle pass times have unintended consequences that impact the lives of Serenity's crew and those that follow.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One – Sunset Conversation

32051:

Unification Year 034:

Day 64:

Hour 1946.

Day before yesterday.

"Oh Gos Se _!"_ The tall, slender young woman muttered despondently as she looked at herself in the mirror.

A small looking glass hung over an old style in-room washbasin that lay atop an equally antique vanity. She dabbed the cool damp cloth against the growing purple on her right cheek and cringed slightly at the sting. The orange glow of sunset shone through the window of her cheap room, diffused off the buildings across the narrow alley. It let in just enough light to tell her that this one was going to show. No amount of cheap makeup would hide this bruise.

The sounds of joy and indulgence filtered up from the saloon below, a piano rambled gaily, but the wayward Companion was anything but happy. Terra Reynolds didn't need this, on top of everything else that had happened that day. Another job had gone bad, another client breaching the terms of her carefully crafted contract, another town to run from. But this one would affect her next job for sure, that was if there was a next. No one wanted damaged goods and this bruise was getting dark by the minute. The yellow-green that would follow made her sick just thinking about it.

"Agh!" She uttered, her body shuddering with frustration. "Why now?"

Things weren't supposed to be this hard. People were supposed to treat her with respect. It was in the contract. But this was the third job to go bad since she shipped out with her brother's freighter and things didn't look to be getting any better. At least this time she'd gotten paid in full before she lit out of there. The young Companion could pay Captain Washburne her rent this month and that was a relief. Sixteen hundred wasn't cheap, for an oversized passenger module, and it wasn't looking good for next month. She had only one client lined up and now that would have to be delayed.

Terra pulled back her long black, curly hair into a loose bun and tied it with a thin veil. Since leaving the training house on Harvest nearly a year ago nothing had been quite as she expected. Life in space just wasn't the adventure she thought it would be. It was more about making ends meet than exotic worlds and elegant strangers. It was about reading your clients and knowing their intentions, understanding them before accepting the contract. It had nothing to do with romantic ideals.

Though she had expected to bring in less than what a fresh young Companion might bring in on Sihnon or even Harvest, a modest income of four to five thousand a month wasn't out of the question. That was far from her current reality of two and a half, if that.

She walked gracefully over to her packed bag and put a fold of Alliance bills in before zipping it closed. Maybe this would workout, in the long run. It had for her mother, but that was a long time ago. Things were different now, the Verse was a different place. This job had at least paid well, Still, it was not looking good for her – not just yet anyway.

A knock came on her door. That would be her ride.

"Nate." She started, as she unlocked the door. "Don't be …"

But it wasn't Nathan Serra that had knocked on the door. Instead two men she didn't know pushed their way in, pushing her along with them.

"Now where do you think you're goin, Darlin?" The small one asked, as the larger slipped behind her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "You got paid to do a job – and you ain't done it yet."

"Mr. Castlebaum broke that contract when he laid his hand across my cheek." She demanded in a dignified and haughty tone. "Now let me go – or."

"Or what?" The man laughed knowingly. "I ain't seen no Guild Certification. Did you, Zeb?"

"No JT, I didn't."

"I …" Terra stopped.

They were right. They'd check up on her and now they knew. Terra was not registered. She left the House early and chased a dream that was now looking more like a nightmare. The girl was left open mouthed and speechless as she struggle against the larger man. Her heart started racing as she realized the trouble she was in. She really had no 'or else' to fall back on. This was trouble she could not handle.

"Boss told us to go fetch his money back." JT continued, as he closed the door and locked it behind him. "He was not too specific on how we was to be paid."

"No!" She cried, but her shout was stifled by the big man's hand as it clamped down on her mouth.

"Now where do you figure that money is Zeb?"

The smaller man grabbed the front of her dress and ripped it open, sending small round buttons flying around the room with a gentile rain-like clattering. Zeb pressed her down onto the bed as the little one pulled at her clothing, never intending to find the money. Terra wriggled and squirmed as hard was she could, but there was no escape.

"Dang, she's feisty." The larger complained.

JT undid his gun belt and tossed it on the fine cushioned chair by the window. He pulled up her dress and pried her knees apart, kneeling on the bed between them to keep them that way. Her stomach turned as he started undoing the buttons on his pants slowly, enjoying the panic in her eyes.

 _Oh God, oh God – Help me!_ But "Mmmm." Was all that came out from behind her muzzle.

The doorknob behind them rattled.

"What's going on in there?" A voice came from behind the door.

"This ain't any of your concern." JT snapped. "We're settling a contract."

"Ahhhhh! She got my Gorram finger!" Zeb started screaming.

Terra had managed to get her teeth around one of Zeb's fingers and bit down as hard as she could. He shook and shook, but she was clamped on good and tight.

"Stop it biao zi!" JT yelled as he jabbed her in the gut. Zeb's finger came loose.

"Uh!" She gasped. But her mouth was uncovered now and she took advantage of it. "Nathan!"

"Shut up, Lan-fu!" JT cracked her across the mouth with the back of his hand, splitting her lip.

Terra fell silent, but her scream had done its job. The door exploded open behind JT and a large man in a black duster kicked through it. Zeb went for his gun, but his bloody hand was too slow. The blast from the stranger's .44 classic caught him in the right shoulder, sending him reeling back against the wall where he slumped.

Terra immediately started clawing at JT's face and eyes until he fell from her to the floor. Jumping from the bed, she scrambled behind her brother, clenching the torn dress to her bare chest. Jake Tyler rose to find himself staring down the barrel of the 44 caliber, bull nosed revolver held by a steely eyed and very angry man. Nathan pulled the hammer back with a loud click, clenching his jaw tightly as his eyes narrowed.

"Nathan No!" Terra cried, as she pulled closed what remained of her dress. "It's not worth it."

He pressed the barrel of his gun to JT's petrified forehead.

"Let's just get out of here." Terra pleaded, pulling at his other arm. "Please."

"Go get their guns." He replied coldly.

Terra quickly fetched their weapons and gave them to her brother. Then she pulled a shawl around her head and shoulders, hiding both her damaged dress and bruised face. Calmly picking up her bag, she took Nathan by the arm and led him from the room.

Everyone in the hall below was staring at them as the two descended the stairs. But Terra, to her brother's continual amazement, remained as dignified as royalty. That was a quality he never possessed. He holstered his gun and they descended the stairs together and walked slowly to the Innkeepers counter. Nathan just glowered at the onlookers.

"This should cover what I owe you." Terra announced, with a smile that was so damn disarming it belied the fact that anything was wrong. She pressed another coin into his palm and added in a whisper. "One of my visitors will be needing medical attention. Please see that he is taken care of."

Nathan tossed the man a silver, wondering how she could remain so civil to the men that were going to rape her. "That's for the door. Do what you like with the trash inside."

And then they left.

"I can keep bailing you out like this, Terra." Nathan complained as he strapped into the shuttle seat.

Terra had been calmly listening to his litany of _I told you so's_ for the quarter mile walk back to the shuttle without making a peep. The sky outside had turn from the glowing orange and pinks to a dull purple that matched her cheek almost exactly. Still, she said nothing.

Never once did she slip for her regal posture on their walk back. She held her shoulders back and her head high as the left to the south of town, onlookers whispering as they walked. She walked with her brother as if they were on a casual sunset stroll, not the hasty retreat they were actually pursuing. Not until she fell into the co-pilot's chair next to her brother, on the old, ramshackle cargo shuttle, did she lose all composure and descend into a fit of sobs.

This would be the time for it, Nathan figured. Companion training kicking in. First charm them, then pull at their heart and when that fails – cry. Defuse, deflect, soften and then in for the kill.

But that wasn't so and he knew it. Nathan could tell the difference between the-put on and the-real with Terra and these were real. She wasn't playing him this time. She was scared and hurt and embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, Nate." She blubbered, as she buried her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, I'm …"

"Save it." Nathan cut, knowing he shouldn't have.

"Nate – I."

"What you don't seem to be comprehending here." He interrupted. "Is that when you break these contracts, it's reflecting on us, on Captain Wash, and she's got to go patch things up. She can't keep to fixin things up for you Terra. It's hurting business."

"I get it Nate." She snapped angrily, wiping away a real tear. "I get it."

"I don't know why Zoe even took you in." He mumbled, as he finished his prefight check.

The shuttle lifted off the dusty field that this small, back berth town used as a shuttle port and headed toward the setting sun. They would be off this moon in just a few minutes, but that wasn't soon enough for either of them.

"It's not all been that bad, Nate. I've opened plenty of doors." His little sister defended after a minute. "It's only been the two…"

"Three!"

She lowered her eyes. "Three." She whispered.

" **Nate! What the Sam-Hell's goin on out there?"** Zoe's voice interrupted from the Com. **"I got Castlebaum grating my ears about a broken contract, the Sheriff talking about some wounded guy pressin charges and an Inn keeper sayin you bloodied up a room?"**

Nathan calmly switched on the unit and replied. "If the contract's broke, he did the breakin. Terra's got the bruises to attest to that. Other guy went for his gun first and I met the Inn keep half way. Paid for the door."

Zoe's tone shifted. **"She okay?"**

"She'll survive. Always does." Nathan stated coldly. "Be at lock down in about five."

" **Nate."** Zoe sounded concerned **. "I got any bodies to deal with?"**

"No Captain." Nathan thought about how close he came to letting that hammer fall and pushed down the fresh bout of anger. "Not this time."

Terra sat quietly through the exchange, contemplating her situation. She'd managed to fasten enough of her clothing to make he brother feel less awkward, even though she was not prone to those feelings. They had been trained out of her a long time ago. What she couldn't overcome was the feeling of guilt for letting it get as far as it had, for endangering her brother and herself.

"Terra?" Nathan broke the silence as the shuttle finally broke Atmo. "Why' you doing this?"

"I need the work." She said. "I need the experience."

"What you need is the Certification." Nathan offered. "You're running too much risk out here with out Guild backing. When' they sending you your creds?"

"They're not going to." She muttered, after a short pause. "I'm not ready."

Nathan thought on that for a quick second.

"Your not ready or they're not ready to Cert you?"

"Both."

"Fu lao tian! Then why'd Ma send you?" Nathan paused for an answer that wasn't coming. Terra's eyes just stared at the console; empty, blank, not even looking to the stars as he could tell they were want to do. "Terra? Ma didn't send you?"

"No." Her voice was small, almost inaudible.

"Shen mu de tian ah! What the hell are you doing out here?"

"Nate – I can't do it. I thought I could but I can't." She rambled. "I can't just waste my life away pleasing other people. It's not me. It's not what I want."

"So you're running?"

"God - I don't know." She uttered in frustration. "I just had to get away from it. I had to leave Harvest."

"So what the hell are you whorin for?"

"It's all I know."

Nathan let the silence settle in for a time. He needed to chew on all of this for a bit and he could see his sister needed the time too. She needed to gather her feelings before they got back to Serenity.

"I want to do something with my life." She said after a moment. "Something with meaning, like Son Lee or Uncle Jayne."

Nathan nearly gagged. "Son Lee!? Son Lee Tam? What's she ever done?" Nathan's opinion of Government was shaped at an early age, by less accepting minds. Though Son was a friend, he had no use at all for what she did in life.

"Come on Nate. Look at what Persephone's like now. It could be a Core planet for all you'd know. She's done a lot."

"Well she's got Badger moved out to Verbena and that ain't nothing." He admitted. "And Jayne's got a lot of life to be makin up for. I don't see how that applies to you."

"No. Terra's had everything feed to her on a silver spoon all her life." She retorted sardonically. "What call does she have to want to make something of herself?"

"Don't get that way Terra, or you might could end up out here like me."

' _And is that so bad_ _?'_ She thought, but she knew a whole lot better than to argue that point with him.

To her, Nathan was a big brother. He was independent and capable. She revered him, looked up to him. God – she wanted nothing more than to be like him. But to Nathan, he was nothing. He hated what he was and she couldn't do anything about that. It hurt in her heart how he felt about life. He was better than that. He was good and honest and true. But he was a hard man – never cut her any slack.

"Why are you so hard on me Nate?"

' _Cause you don't know what you got.'_ He thought. _'Cause you get everything you ever want and you don't know it or just don't care. Cause the whole damn Verse would turn itself inside out for you and it ain't ever enough.'_ God he could go on for a week _._ But why?

"Ma know where you are?" Was all he said.

"She's probably figured it out." The girl said. ' _For all she cares.'_ "She's not a stupid woman."

"Terra, you're sixteen ta ma years old. If you ain't ready, you gotta go back."

"No! – Nathan!" Her startled, panicked eyes locked on his. "I can't do that. I can't."

"Then you gotta tell her what you want."

Terra shook her head slowly, contemplating the thought before it came out. Her eyes glistened with the tears that she held back and she bit on her lip, but her voice was controlled, calm.

"I can't do that either, Nate. She don't love me like she does you. You could tell her and she would listen. She loves you for who you are, not what she can make you into."

"That ain't so." Nathan retorted.

"Yes – it is. If I tell her that I don't want this life…" She stopped, gathering her self-control. "She won't have any reason to love me at all."

"What are you talking about?"

"You've seen her with Aunt Kay's youngest. She loves that girl like her own."

"Like she does you."

"Cause Shannon wants what Ma wants." She yelled.

"So tell her what you want." He yelled right back.

"I – Can't!"

"So you're just going to run?"

"Like you haven't been running since daddy died."

She regretted saying it as soon as it left her lips. The hurt in his face was impossible for him to hide. She bit her lip, but it was too late. Nathan fell silent. He could never argue with the truth, not even when it was his snot nosed little sister that had thrown it at him.

"Nate – I'm sorry." Her tears were fresh and real.

"No." He said quietly. "You're right."

Serenity grew larger in the windshield of the shuttle as they grew closer. They sat, nothing more to say to each other. The two of them were tapped out, hurt, lonely, flawed and running from themselves. There was no place left to go.

"What' we gonna do, Nate?" Terra let her language slip, sounding more like the Harvest farmers they'd grown up with than a Companion she pretended to be. "What' we gonna do?"

13


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two – Afternoon Interview

32049:

Unification Year 031:

Day 320:

Hour 1406.

Three years earlier.

Two figures sat in the middle of a sound stage with a full cortex crew buzzing all around them. The large uncomfortable older man tugged at the collar of his dress shirt and tie, overheating in the suite and bright lights that he was subjected to. The overly made-up, just past young woman, quickly ran down the order of questions she would ask, but they were lost on the poor man. The director waved at the woman and started the countdown. Three fingers, two, one, he pointed.

"Thanks for coming back." She said, cheerfully inviting a billion viewers into their false living room. "I'm here with Harvest's new councilman and legend Jayne Cobb. Welcome."

"Thank 'ya Katie." The good looking, slightly graying man replied.

"Well Mr. Cobb – I understand that you have recently published an auto-biography of your early days."

"Yes Katie, that is true." He replied politely.

"Are we to understand that you actually wrote this book?" She questioned. "It isn't at all congruous with your public persona."

"Well Katie, I never was good with the words-n-all so, as you suspect, I did have a fair bit of help." He admitted. "But the stories is true."

"A ghost writer then."

Jayne took a beat to figure that it didn't mean a dead writer and then he pressed on. It must have shown on his face as it drew a chuckle or two from the crew. "A friend of the family." He nodded.

"So – may I ask why you are printing these stories now, after so many years of, how shall I put it, laying low."

"Well Katie, I'm glad you asked…" Jayne proceeded to tell his interviewer the plight of so many of the boarder and rim planets, moon, and stations. He added that, by writing this book, he hoped to better their situation and highlight his new initiatives in the parliament. But Katie did not seem to catch his drift.

"Well then – Let's get this out of the way right up front. Some say you are the author of the long successful children's series, 'On the Rim.' Is there any truth to that?"

Jayne looked at the woman, confused as to how the question was pertinent. He'd been working an honest job for near two decades now – well – before he made his way into politics it was honest. Now he was doing his best to make up for the two decades before that. That is what he had come here to talk about, not any of his previous means of financial augmentation. It just so happened that one of those honest jobs he held was that of an author, and yes, he had authored those stories for Mal's children, but that one was personal and one thing he had sworn to secrecy.

"No Katie." Jayne lied. "I just ain't that good at writin."

She laughed at his plain honesty, not realizing that this was the least honest thing he'd said so far.

"So why do you think so many people believe this rumor."

"Well Katie, there are only so many stories out on the Rim for people to latch on to." He said, steering the conversation back to his initiatives. "There ain't no wonder that they sound so – similar."

"Okay, but, aside from the Ghost writer friend of the family, this is your story?"

"All true."

"So you admit all those vices and transgressions, those stories are truth."

"Well for the most part, with minor dramatic enhancement."

The woman smiled at the camera, that kind of smile that a light weight new reporter smiles when they think they have latched onto a line of questioning that will be particularly revealing or salacious in nature. This was one of those times.

"You were in trouble with the Law quite a bit then weren't you?" She feigned a swoon.

"Fair bit."

"And this Companion you traveled with, Inara Serra."

"Nara." He confirmed.

"You say in the book that she was special to you?"

"Well – here is one of those places that we was talking about, dramatic enhancement. My 'Ghost Writer' thought it'd make a stronger statement – but – Yeah, she was special to me."

"And you to her?"

"I guess."

"She is the founder of the Harvest Companions Academy isn't she?" The newswoman asked innocently.

Uh – yeah."

"And would you say a woman of that stature would normally associate with rogues and outlaws such as you used to be?"

"Uh – no." He answered tentatively. "Nara didn't have nothing to do with that stuff there."

"And yet she gave you a job at the guild when she opened it up." Katie continued. "Doesn't that sound a bit odd to you?"

"No." Jayne replied flatly, mostly because it didn't.

"Would it be fair to say you were friends then?"

"Yeah."

"Special friends?"

"Yeah – I guess."

Jayne seemed a bit perturbed at the direction the interview was turning and attempted at several points to move it back to his agenda and political intensions. It worked for a moment or two, but soon digressed back into the naughty nature of his younger days and his numerous vices. Many of which, he was sad to say, were still vices in his life today.

"I ain't sayin I been a saint any of my life. I been up to a fair bit of devilry. But when a man settles down enough to take stock of his past, he sees some things he wants to be about fixin. That's where I'm comin from and that's what I'd like to do, given the chance." Shameless political plug aside, Jayne was being genuinely truthful.

"That is very interesting, but that is about all the time we have for today."

"But I ain't said nothing yet." Jayne objected as the camera zoomed in on the newswoman's face.

"Well Mr Jayne Cobb – you turned out to be a whole lot more man than what I was expecting. " She announced to the camera. "Jayne Cobb, Writer, Councilman, Legend."

Inara shut off the cortex as she shook her head smiling.

"You're just screaming into the wind, Jayne." She mumbled to herself. "They just aren't hearing what you have to say."

A second later the vidscreen chipped. Inara had expected this, just not so soon.

"Pick-up" She ordered and then her tone changed to a more pleasant, casual tenor. "Mei mei, it's so good to see you."

"Did you just hear that?" Kaylee fumed at the vid screen incredulously. "Did you?"

"Yes I did." The Companion seemed satisfied and not at all bothered.

"But Nara – Half the Verse is gonna think you where his great lover." Kaylee nearly screeched. "That ain't right."

"He didn't say that Kaylee."

"Just as well did. Well I got half a mind to get on my junk and come down to keel-haul him."

Inara laughed. "Well you know you are certainly welcome to visit any time you want." She added. "If you can pull yourself away from busy social life in Landsdown."

Inara had always worried about Kaylee's ability to adjust to the life she had to lead now. Being rich and famous was not in her blood, though Simon seemed to be handling it just fine.

"Aw Nara, you know it ain't all what they make it out to be on the cortex."

"I know Mei mei, but is it everything that 'you' thought it would be?"

"I gotta be honest with you, this ain't half bad. Simon just made Chief of staff at the hospital, he's opened a new trauma center there you know. Son Lee just became the youngest Minister's top aide in the Alliance, Shannon is out there with you, and the people here love sucking-up to me. Life is pretty good."

"I heard your engines took the top three spots in the Caprison Invitational." Inara added. Kaylee was always leaving her own achievements off her lists. Inara could never quite figure that out.

"That ain't nothin." She said. "I got good pilots."

"Zoe says different. She ran into you there, she mentioned" Inara was leading.

"Yeah! We had a nice chat." Kaylee could see the question in Inara's eyes that she wasn't asking _. '_ _Did you see Nathan? Was he all right? Was he happy?_ '

"It was a long day of racin and talkin. Nathan gave me a lift home. He's all growed up, looking well." ' _A lot like Mal_.' Kaylee thought, but she'd never say it.

They were silent for a second.

"Mei mei. You should come. Terra and Sharron – well they miss you and Son Lee. I miss you. It would be good to see you and Simon again."

"You know his schedule is so busy now, and Son Lee – I barely get to see her. I may need to adopt another hai zi just to have someone around." She mused. "It ain't like the old days Nara."

"I know."

Silence filled the screen again for a beat.

"And where does Jayne get off sayin you two had a special relationship.

"He's not wrong Kaylee." Inara defended Jayne, much to Kaylee's surprise. "He was more of a Father to my children that Mal ever was. He practically wrote that whole Rim series for them, just so they could know Mal." Inara still had a slight bitterness when she spoke of Mal, almost as much as Kaylee's reverence of the man.

"Aw Nara, that ain't so."

"Well at lease he was there for them." She retorted. "And that was special in its own way."

"That ain't no fault of his." Kaylee defended Mal, her eyes dropped from the screen. "Not his."

They sat again in silence. Neither one liked the awkwardness they had now, but it was all they had and they held on to it dearly.

"Jayne isn't doing anyone wrong, Kaylee. You know you'll have to forgive him." Inara insisted, but what she meant was, ' _Forgive yourself Mei mei. Forgive yourself_.' Kaylee could read it in her eyes.

"I know Nara, but I can't."

8


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three – Noon Races

32050:

Unification Year 031:

Day 221:

Hour 1300.

Ninety-nine more days.

Zoe watched as Kaylee walked to the podium to accept the Caprison Invitational trophy in all three endurance categories.

' _Just like lil' Kaylee.'_ She thought.

She'd brought the three pilots and their pit crew to the stage with her. To see Kaylee up there was special to Zoe. It was as close to maternal as the warrior was ever going to get.

It was also as close to high society as the freighter captain, and part time smuggler, was ever going to get. The highly cultured and exclusive event was a special occasion on Persephone and preceded a major ball in honor of the winners. Zoe had only managed an invitation to the ceremonies at noon.

' _Mal would have loved to see this.'_ Zoe thought.

But for some reason Kaylee didn't want any fuss over it. Her 'Drive Augmentation' system had more or less revolutionized travel in the past three years, but it didn't seem to show in the way Kaylee acted. She was as humble and self-effacing as ever. After all of the ' _Tweren't nothings_ ' and the ' _I had a good team_ ' she just said thank you and left the stage. Still, Zoe made a point of finding her after the presentations.

"It's quite an honor, top in all three categories." Zoe said, after they were done hugging.

"Oh t'weren't nothing." Kaylee said again. "I see you been gettin better with the 'huggin' thing."

"It's growing on me." Zoe laughed. "Where's Simon and Murph?"

"Well – you know, Simon's at the hospital and Murphy's at the plant." She answered. "Murphy still thinks we could have taken the speed categories, but we kept meltin the gorram cores. He's huntin down a new coolin system."

"I see you settled on a name for your unit. Tam Drive sounds nice."

"It was more for River than for me." She said looking to her feet as the walked. "Simon and I were both good with that. You think she'd like it, Zoe."

"I think so." She replied, smiling. "And it's better than that fu za name you had."

"Dark Matter Reverse Compensating Inversion Coupler?" It rolled off her tongue with ease. "What's so fu za about that?"

Zoe just smiled and shrugged.

"You coming to the Ball tonight." Kaylee asked hopefully.

Zoe looked off down from the slopes of the rich part of town, toward the dustier port where Serenity was berthed. "We got a run out to Boros later and you know how I get on with those sorts."

"Well – I wish you'd come." She added. "You and Maggie and Nate."

They walked from Landsdown to Eavesdown, chatting and laughing as they strolled. It was hot and dry, as was usual for Persephone, but the breeze came down off the mountains to keep things reasonably bearable. Kaylee parked her 'junk', as she called it, up at Landsdown these days, but Zoe still put-in at the Eavesdown space port. It wasn't so much economics as it was habit these days and she did like the hubbub and bustle of the Eavesdown market. Reminded her of days gone by.

They passed by the hospital, stopping in just for a moment to say 'Hey' to Simon, which was all they could squeeze in between surgeries. Zoe even hugged Simon, to both of the Tam's surprise. Then they proceeded on.

Eavesdown hadn't changed much, other than becoming larger. Still noisy and dusty. Even though Kaylee was 'upper' now, she still fit in right-as-rain down here with the common folk. More than not knew her and most tipped a hat or a smile as they passed.

"Thanks again for referring Maggie." Zoe said as they approached Serenity's slip. "She's real good with the drive and knows that retrofit of yours like the back of her hand."

"She's getting on good then?"

"Seems to like it out there." Zoe replied. "Did you teach her to sleep in the engine room – or is she just like that?"

"Now that I might have learned from her." Kaylee quipped.

Zoe could see Kaylee sizing up Serenity as they approached. She stopped, put her hands on her hips and sighed, taking in all of Serenity in her gaze. Her eyes were filled with a longing that Zoe hadn't seen since Kaylee had walked away from her, six years earlier.

"Gosh, she's beautiful."

"She's holding up fine." Zoe replied.

"Comon Zoe." Kaylee persisted. "She gotta be one of the last half dozen still operatin. And she's in great shape. She's a Classic."

"Well, she's home anyway."

"Looks like the coupling on that damper could use some work though?" The engineer offered.

"It'll hold till we get back." Zoe replied. "You oughta come on in and say hey. Nathan's runnin down the compensator check. He'd love to see you before we leave."

"Oh." She said, almost surprised at the offer.

She shouldn't have been. They'd both been in this same position at least a dozen times in the past six years, each time ending the same way.

"Zoe." She replied apologetically. "I…"

Kaylee's eyes turned from a love filled longing to a panicked fear.

"You know I can't. I'd love to, but I just can't." The engineer backed away from her former ships loading ramp, looking like she was about to run.

"Kaylee, wait." Zoe pleaded, holding her old friend by the arm. "It's a long walk back. Let me get Nathan to give you a lift on the mule. He'd kill me if I let you go without telling him. Just wait."

She nodded, as Zoe backed up the ramp, half expecting the girl to bolt back into the crowd. After Zoe was gone, Kaylee drifted up to the space ship and pressed her cheek against the cold metal exterior. As she closed her eyes, her face took on a contented smile. Kaylee let herself slip back and remember.

"Gosh I miss you." She mumbled. "It shoulda been me."

5


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four – Morning Chores

32044:

Unification Year 025:

Day 342:

Hour 1010.

Nine years back.

Mal stood on the gangway overlooking the cargo hold as Kaylee buzzed around a large bundle of engine parts, occasionally ducking under a large tarp and clanging on something underneath. The captain watched with a contented curiosity stemming from the fact that he had absolutely nothing else to occupy his attention. He sipped at his coffee and scrutinized her activities with all the attentiveness of a boy looking at an ant farm. He had no clue what she was doing, but it was fascinating to observe.

Whatever it was that Kaylee was working on; it had captivated her attention for the last few months. She said she it was some new idea that she and River had cooked up, as if River had somehow talked to her in a dream or something.

" _River_." He mumbled.

She had been gone for six years now. Still, they all seemed to remember her at the oddest of times. He looked down at his coffee and puzzled. The ripples in his cup where bouncing around like a pattern of rings and crosses that stood in the gaps. The pattern came from the engine vibrations, but it formed a picture in his cup, no where near the engine. It was something she would have been fascinated with, simple, yet complicated. He could almost see her face in his mind as she contemplated the pattern.

 _Six years. Had it been that long? It didn't seem so_.

Zoe walked down the forward stair to join him by the handrail, as he stared into his cup. She'd just come from the bridge, where she undoubtedly wanted him to return and discuss their latest wrinkle in an otherwise smooth plan. But Mal was too curious at the moment to think on that just yet.

"You got any idea what's under that tarp?" He asked his first mate.

"No sir." Zoe replied. "Last time I tried to look, I got chased away with a wrench."

"Ha. That must have been a sight. Like a sparrow chasing a hawk." He laughed. "What'd she say it was?"

"Just said it would help Serenity go faster through the voids. Use less fuel."

"That ain't a half bad thing." Mal said. "But why's it in my cargo hold, takin up valuable cargo space? Why ain't it up in the engine room?"

"No clue, Sir."

"Simon got any idea what's got her so fired up?"

"No, sir. He's as mystified as us." Zoe answered. "But he's got his own problems."

"Another letter?"

"Turns out that his father, Minister Tam, is not the most welcoming man." Zoe explained. "Still wants him to unhitch the wagon and come home."

"Well I ain't never thought of Kaylee as a wagon before." He mused on the thought. "How's Kaylee takin that?"

"Sir?" Zoe just pointed down to the cargo hold, with a 'how thick can you be' look on her face. "She's building stuff."

"Right." Mal said, resolved to get some answers. "It's time to find out what going on here on my gorram ship."

Mal stood, stretched his back and shoulders, handed Zoe his coffee and proceeded to the stairs.

"I'll sing at your funeral, Sir."

"I can't tell you how much I appreciate that."

Zoe made no attempt to join him, content to watch the ensuing theatrics from overhead. Mal proceeded to descend the forward stair in more of a controlled fall than actually walking. It made the transition faster and more imposing.

"Kaylee!" Mal started with the dominating, loud and put out approach. He thought it might be safer in the long run. "What the zhou ma di are you doing with all this in my cargo hold?" He said, picking his way through the field of engine parts strewn across the deck. "I can't hardly move no cargo with all this gos se cluttering up my ship."

"But Cap'n, it wouldn't fit in the engine room and we got plenty of room back here. You don't hardly got no cargo so I figured you wouldn't mind cause we needed this to make us, ya know, like more competitive."

"How exactly is this pile of wu yong hu che going to do that?"

"Aww – Cap'n. It ain't useless." She defended. "And it only looks like crap."

"I can't tell you what a comfort that is to me."

"It'll be worth the space and once I get some decent parts it'll be smaller and look better." The engineer continued. "I'm working with a lot of hand me down stuff."

"How is this 'what's it' gonna make us more competitive?"

"Save us fuel, Cap'n." Kaylee said proudly.

Mal looked interested for the first time. "Okay then, how's it work."

"Oh, well you know how the firefly drive works – right?" She didn't stop to see his answer, which if she had, would have been an undeniable 'no'. "The drive basically uses the gravitational wells that surround all matter and leverage the one that make you go – well where you wanna go. It uses them to, like – pull you along."

"Okay." Mal replied tentatively not really understanding.

"Well that's why we burn so much more fuel in the void – see."

"Not exactly sure that I do."

"There ain't no gravity wells there in the void Cap'n." She said, as if everyone knew this fact.

"Ok?"

"There ain't nothing there at all, at least that's what I thought 'til River told me different."

"River." Mal said. "Now don't you go tellin me you're communin with the dead, lil' Kaylee."

"Aww, Cap'n. River ain't dead. She just goed away." She said. "Into the ripples."

"The ripples." Mal thought about his coffee.

"Well yeah." Again a ubiquitous fact. "The matter ain't nothin but ripples on the nothin. And the nothin ain't nothin at all, it's somethin."

"You're losing me Kaylee."

"Just listen. Why should I pull at what I ain't got a lot of, when I can push on something that's all around?" She waited; looking at the captain as if expecting an answer to what he thought was clearly a rhetorical question. "Right?"

"Huh." He laughed. "Zoe was right. I should have stayed up there."

"And the great part is, it works everywhere not just in the void. There's nothin everywhere. I didn't see it Cap'n, not til that day. You know, when River left with Cayman."

In truth the captain would never forget that day. Cayman may have been a stowaway on his boat, but River was his crew. Loosing a crewmember was something Mal couldn't abide. They all took River's passing hard. Kaylee suddenly slip into a memory. She absently touched her cheek; River's kiss still fresh, still present. She was no longer talking to the captain, but to herself, to the nothing.

"She kissed me, right there, then just curled up with him on the Infirmary table, you know, there in front of me an' Simon. Then - woosh – they was gone. Into the nothin. Like it was all around." Kaylee reached out and grabbed at – nothing.

Yes, Mal remembered the day – like it was yesterday. River had kissed him too, the day she'd left, and from time to time he could still feel it. He'd lost crew that day. He fought back the urge to touch his cheek as Kaylee had. It's not that he didn't feel the same, but it wasn't just crew he'd lost that day, it was River. She was special to him. But the war had taught both Zoe and him not to dwell on loss and he wasn't going to start now.

"Kaylee?" Mal touched her on the shoulder. She snapped back to reality. "Why is it under a tarp? What's the big secret?"

"Oh. It ain't no secret, Cap'n." She replied. "It don't like the light."

"It don't?" Mal looked up at Zoe, still on the gangway overhead. She gave him a self-satisfied 'I told you so' kind of grin and shook her head.

"Could you hand me that, Cap'n? That one there, it looks like a rear coupler."

"Do I look like I know what a rear couple looks like?"

"There." She pointed. "Careful! That's my baby."

Zoe joined Mal on the bridge after finishing up her final check of the day. She settled into the pilot's chair and took a quick look at the nav screen. All looked good.

"We ought to be in Dyton in a few." Mal stated. "Then we can look to getting us some help."

"Running skeleton ain't what I had in mind for this job." Zoe agreed.

"What's wrong with folk these days anyway?" Mal complained. "No one wants to do good honest crime no more."

"Can't understand why, sir." She said looking around at the small bridge, exhausted from the day's work. "With us riding so high on the hog and all."

"We'll be needing someone that can help with the piloting and one or two that can haul."

The last thing she needed was someone else sitting in that chair all the time. It was hard enough with Mal and River, and she knew them, but a bunch of strangers – she didn't like that idea at all. That was Wash's place and much though she hated to admit it, the loss still pained her.

"Best if we can get one that can do both." She offered. "Keep the shares high. I don't want just anyone in my pilot's place."

"Don't you go counting the days now, Zoe. I intend to stay out here a might longer." Mal said, missing the meaning of her reservations.

"I don't know, sir. That ranch on a hilltop and those children all waiting on you. Looking pretty good right about now."

Mal just smiled.

"How old's that little one of yours now, five?"

"Six." Mal said proudly. "And the spitting image of her mother. Got her manner too."

"Nathan near ready to come help out here?"

"Couple more years." Mal estimated. "But he's willing now. Inara is less keen on the idea. She be happy to keep him on Harvest for the time being."

"When we heading back, if you don't mind me asking?"

"We do this drop on Dyton, pick up supply on Persephone and on to Harvest from there, is the plan."

"It's a good plan." Zoe mused. "It will be good to settle for a spell."

Zoe stared out the windscreen on the field of winking stars. She looked forward to the time spent on Harvest. The pace was slower, more relaxed on the ranch there. A quick blue flash of an atom on the navigation shield caught the tear in corner of her right eye before she deftly wiped it away. She had once had plans.

8


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five – Early Morning Walk

32050:

Unification Year 033:

Day 308:

Hour 0746.

Last Year.

"Come on Terra, you can do this."

The girl mumbled to herself, as she stood on the rear step of the last rail car on the train. The landscape sped by as the train picked up speed. She would have to clear the mag rails and the power shields, but she thought she could do it. At least she was pretty sure she could, not like there was a choice in the matter. Five minutes ago, as they pulled out of the station, this was the last place she thought she'd be.

"Come on – Nate has done this a dozen times and he's not dead." She urged herself on. "You can do this."

The sound of a door opening grabbed her attention. A quick glance through the small window to her left confirmed her fears. She was out of time; the policemen had finally made it to the last car. She tossed her bag from the back and watched it tumbled down the grassy bank. It didn't break apart or disintegrate like she'd expected. They weren't going too fast yet.

"Your not gonna die." She mumbled. "Your not gonna die."

It was time. Terra closed her eyes and flung herself from the train. The momentary rush was like nothing she'd felt before. Like flying. Her heart raced and the wind rushed through her hair, fluttering through skirts flapping like the sails on a ship. Her whole body was filled with an excitement, a new and exhilarating feeling of unexpected joy.

But the landing was also a new experience she'd not expected. She hit the bank with a slight twist and a crack from her left ankle. A wave of pain immediately shot through her body, followed by another when her arm struck, and another on the shoulder, and another as she tumbled to the bottom of the bank. Gravel scraped, twigs poked and thorns tore until she finally came to a stop in a bramble bush some twenty yards later.

Terra just lay there, panting for breath as the train sped away. Her hair was filled with twigs, her dress grass stained and hiked up to her thighs and her right leg hanging from the bush snagged on a branch. She pulled herself free of the offending shrub, but a flush of nausea turned her inside out and she retched behind the bramble for the next minute or two. Eventually she gained control of her faculties and she felt the full impact of her ill planned retreat.

"Ouch?" Was all she could say.

The girl tried to stand, but found herself just as quickly back on the ground, screaming. The melon at the end of her left leg, that once had been her foot, was throbbing with pain. A broken ankle was the last thing she needed right now, but that was just what she had. Terra winced as she wrapped her neck scarf around the tender ankle as tightly as she could. A quick look around assured her that she'd be walking to where ever she was going. There was nothing as far as the eye could see, just fields and bramble and woods and this dirt access road.

"Oh Gao Se!" She cried after her first step.

Jumping out of a train turned out to be much less fun than she figured. What was it that Nathan always said?

' _Tuck and Roll.'_

"I'm not doing that again." She moaned.

Where exactly this job went wrong she could not immediately identify, but she'd have a lot of time to figure it out, judging by her surroundings. It started out as a normal 'I hired you for my best buddy' until they got on the train. Then it suddenly turned into something else. While she was distracting the conductor, with her normal grace and charm – seriously she hadn't meant to do anything but be nice to the man – her employers took the opportunity to rob the train. She guessed that was their plan all along and that was when things took a turn for the worse.

The good news was that she was still alive and the authorities had no idea who she was. The bad news was that her employers were both dead and it probably wouldn't take the Sheriff long to put two and two together. Without credentials, without Guild records, she had no proof that she wasn't involved. And who was she anyway, nobody. Her only saving grace was she'd had the where-with-all to retrieve her contract from the dead man before she vomited and jumped off a train. She'd never seen a dead man before.

"God – Nathan's going to kill me."

Terra Reynolds started down the road in tentative and small steps. She made her way back to her now ragged valise and gathered her thing, now strewn about the bank. As she acclimated to the pain in the leg, she took stock of her situation. Looking somewhat of a wreck, it was doubtful anyone would recognize her as the elegant Companion that had entered town the day before. That was good, she could make her way back to town. But at the same time she had to wonder, how she had gotten involved with this crazy stunt to begin with? Why she hadn't seen it for the setup that it was?

Her first job had been easy. He was an older businessman that was just looking for some eye candy, a distraction for a deal that he was closing with a younger competitor. He only needed her for the suggestion that she may be part of the deal. That had worked out well and it raised her confidence. She'd almost believed that they would all be that easy.

But her second job cured her of all such disillusions. Circuit Judge Dickerson had made her rent for at least the next three months. It was a lucrative job, for an important client. But he was only interested in one thing – sex and lots of it. His veracious appetite for it and his complete disregard for her, as a person, had left her feel empty and small. It had awakened her to a side of the job that she had previously been sheltered from and she didn't like it one bit. She left that contract early and Zoe had to patch things up for her. Captain said she didn't mind, that her reputation on Santo wasn't that good to begin with, but she knew it hadn't done the captain any favors.

Since then things had gone pretty well, until now that was. She hadn't had many jobs and they were not lucrative in any stretch of the imagination, which is why she should have questioned this one even more. Fifteen hundred for a collage boy's first, and on a train? That didn't make any kind of sense.

"I should have seen it." She chided herself. "Where were they going to get that kind of money?"

And now she had nothing and they were dead. She could have been dead too. The girl stopped with a cringe that hadn't come from the swollen ankle. Was it her decision that had lead to this dirt road or theirs?

Inara Serra, the instructor and mentor, had always taught her how important the selection process was and that good judgment in picking the jobs was the key to a successful career. Her mother's carrier on board Serenity had been one of the more successful and a model for Terra. That was why she'd come to the ship and why she was here.

' _Never pick a client though a third party.'_ The instructor's voice echoed. _'Never let the client pick the venue.'_

Inara Serra, the mother, had always scolded her for her lack of that same good judgment.

' _Terra you're impatient. Terra don't be so naïve.'_ That, too, was why she was here.

Terra stopped and stood like a statue in the middle of that dirt access road and started to cry. She clenched her bag to her breast, her shoulders slumped and her chin fell as she gasped for air through her sobs. Those two boys were dead. They were dead because of – because of her. It was her fault.

' _Those boys are dead because of them.'_ Her mother's voice scolded in her head. _'You did not make them do this.'_

But Terra felt no less lost. She was not a true Companion, but that is all she knew. She had no other skills.

"How could you do this to me Ma?" She muttered, tears held back only through shear will. "How could you make me into this?"

The sun was warm on her face in the early morning chill. The Grouton express train just a distant memory, now far over the horizon, but the moment she was dreading had come. The swirl of the breeze as the shuttle approached played with the hem of her torn and dusty dress. It flitted and danced about her knees, then turned and pressed. The flowing gingham went flat against her back, billowing like a sail in front of her as the shuttle settled behind. He was coming for her yet again. Big brother come to save her.

"Terra!"

She didn't turn; Terra didn't want to see the disappointment in his face. So she just stood there and waited. Nathan snatched his sister up into his arms and hugged her, holding her head to his chest with a gentle caress that said you're safe now. She tried to stand tall and regally, as usual too proud to admit her mistakes, but he could feel the quivering inside her. Nathan lifted her in his arms and carried her back to the shuttle, back to safety, back to Serenity.

6


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six – Pre-Dawn Test Run

32044:

Unification Year 025:

Day 360:

Hour 0612.

Nine years back.

Mal sat in the pilot's chair finishing up the final Nav calculations for their approach to Persephone. The tall, clean-cut man next to him watched intently form the copilot's position taking notes on a kneepad, as Mal punched in the final numbers. Nelson was a serious young man, about Mal's height and build, but better conditioned and toe-head blond. His garments were neat and reminiscent of the Alliance uniforms that he had been used to wearing.

"Okay former Ensign Nelson. Hope you don't mind doing a small test for us. Your piloting looks pretty good and Lil' Kaylee is excited to try out her new toy."

"Not a problem, sir."

" **All set Cap'n. We can give it a whirl?"** Kaylee chirped over the intercom.

"Okay then. Let's see what you got, Nelson."

"Yes Sir," the big man confirmed. "Looks like we're two hours out of Persephone, headed 2-9-9er Phi, 6 – 8 …"

"Son." Mal interrupted. "I don't need a prognosis, just take over, would you?"

"Yes Sir. Sorry Sir." The young ex-Ensign apologized. "Old habits die hard."

Zoe scrutinized the young man from the hatch as Mal flipped up the wheel and switched over to the copilot. Nelson took over, confidently. He'd come on with them at Dyton and was looking for a long-term commitment for a job. He was strong, fresh out of the Military, having been let go for some reason or t'other. A little digging in the rumor mill indicated the man had countermanded a superior's orders. Mal didn't mind that much, as the claim was he'd saved civilians in doing so.

But Zoe was not so hot on guy yet. The Alliance blue tone to his jumpsuit was not the least of her worries. He was just too fresh out of the Alliance mind set. Their occasional forays into petty crime, necessary to make ends meet, might not sit to well with this boy. So she wanted to keep a close eye – for a while anyway.

"Okay Kaylee. Let her go."

" **Hang on while I switch off the…"**

Serenity suddenly jumped, pushing Mal and Nelson into their seats and sending Zoe tumbling to the deck. The sound of the engine whined louder than Mal had ever heard before, but there was no hint of strain in the noise.

"What the… Kaylee! What did you do?"

Zoe scrambled to her feet, as Serenity surged forward. A thin red line formed on her forehead, but she took no notice of the pain. Something else had grabbed her attention.

"Sir?"

Nelson's knuckles had turned white on the wheel as he tried to keep Serenity straight. The background of stars was turning into a blur.

"Kaylee!?"

"Sirrr?" Zoe tried again to get the captain's attention. The Nav screen was flashing red.

"Kaylee are you down there? Shut that damn thing off."

"Sirrrr!?"

Zoe pulled Nelson out of the copilot's chair, sending him down into the sensor pit, and took his place. Two of Persephone's moons had shot by in the last few seconds and the planet itself was growing larger, dead ahead in the window. Zoe shut down the main drive, flipped her around and threw auxiliary into full stop. Again everyone was everywhere.

Serenity came to a rest halfway between the last moon and the Eavesdown entry point beckon. The engine was silent but the Com unit was squawking with complaints from every ship in the lane and the approach tower to boot.

"What the hell was that?" Mal yelled.

" **Everything is Shiny Cap'n."** Kaylee chimed in. **"I found the light switch."**

"We just did the last two hours of our approach in two minutes Kaylee." Mal roared as he leaned over his cowering engineer. "That – ain't – Shiny!"

The galley was a mess but nothing was seriously damaged in the incident. Dished and cans and food were strewn about the whole room. The rest of Serenity was in a similar state. The cargo hold was about the only place aboard that had been properly secured for the experiment, which was fortunate for Kaylee as she would probably be dead right now if it hadn't. If the falling cargo had not killed her, the loss of the load would have driven the captain to homicide.

"I spent a good long time tryin to get me a new pilot and he couldn't get off this rig fast enough."

Mal had to explain this minor drive accident they'd just had to two-dozen officials and scores of other captains before the hubbub had settled down enough to secure a spot at the Eavesdown port. He didn't mention Karlee's experiment. The incongruity in their position records was still being discussed, but most felt this was an equipment failure and nothing more. He wanted to keep it that way.

"I got half the spaceport talkin about me and a powerful need to be elsewhere." He added.

Mal was still trying to get his mind around the whole affair as he paced.

"I think it still needs a little adjustment." Kaylee answered in a near whisper, trying to shrink into the chair.

"You think!"

Zoe sat on the couch in the corner as the doctor dressed the gash on her forehead she'd gotten in the turmoil. At the same time Simon was just fighting down an extreme case of déjà-vu. Their new pilot, Nelson, wasn't there at all. He had demanded his pay and left as soon as they made solid ground. Mal had been quick enough to double that pay and request the man stay quiet about the affair, until he got the whole thing sorted out. At least he had agreed to that before he left.

"Who else knows about this?" Mal continued.

"Well I ain't the only one working on one of these, Cap'n." Kaylee answered. "Just the only one to make it work." She said with a small smile to herself. The realization was just setting in. She had made it work.

"So no one else but us?"

"Just us." She confirmed.

"I thought you were talkin about saving in the margins, maybe a point or two over the run, not a ta ma revolution." Mal said. "What were you thinkin?"

But the captain couldn't have come anywhere close to what she was thinking. It had worked just as she'd expected, but without the necessary damping. This is what so many people had been working for so long to make – a way to cross the void. Not the little void between the stars and planets, the big one, the one between galaxies. This was the first step, and she had taken it.

It was a way to find those places that were not in this Verse, places that only River had seen. Places they'd talked about on Kaylee's engine room floor, when they was being sisters. Places that ordinary folk like them couldn't go 'til now. That was what she had been thinking. She was thinking big.

"You realize this is a gold mine." Simon offered as a consolidation to the captain.

"It's a white elephant." Zoe corrected.

"Don't get me wrong Kaylee, I'm sure this is a great thing you done here, but we gotta find a way to get it off of my ship before someone finds out about it."

"Cap'n?"

"Last thing we need is another Lassiter."

"But Cap'n?"

"Kaylee, I ain't lookin to change my world here." Mal stated. "Now – do you have a friend here on Persephone, Gunter or maybe Harrow that can take this, hold it for you. Maybe help you develop this thing."

Kaylee nodded, near tears. "Ol' Murphy will help me, but Cap'n." She paused. "I don't wanna leave Serenity."

"Who said anything about you leavin?" Mal replied. "It's just that 'thing' that's got to go."

Kaylee nodded. "Yes Cap'n." She said _. But that thing – that thing is me_. She thought.

6


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven – Yesterday

32051:

Unification Year 034:

Day 65:

Hour 1946.

Yesterday.

Zoe strode out of the infirmary at a clip, Nathan following in her wake, leaving Terra to sit with an icepack on her lip and ponder her latest fiasco. He really couldn't tell if she was angry or just ' _had it up to here'_ with this 'Zhīdào zhè yīqiè xiao mie mie' of his. But she had made up her mind about something and the captain was not one to sit on a decision for long.

"I don't think she meant to make trouble." He found himself excusing her, though he had no idea why. "She had a contract."

"The mooks on Santo can't read." Was all the captain said as she made her way through the galley. "You know that, Nate."

"What's on you mind, Captain?" He asked as he followed her up to the bridge.

"There's something you need to know – both of you." She answered settling into the pilot's seat and punching in new coordinates.

"Where are we goin." Nathan asked again, not sure either of the siblings was ready to face going home.

"Persephone." She said. "You've got to talk to your Aunt Kay."

1


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight - Darkest Before the Dawn

32045:

Unification Year 026:

Day 1:

Hour 0410.

Eight years back.

Old Murphy and Kaylee strolled out of the cargo hold and into the airlock with Mal trailing a respectful three steps behind. He wanted Kaylee to feel free enough to do her own negotiations, but still feel like he was there for her. It was a habit he'd gotten into over the years. Zoe had told him he was being like a hovering parent, but he didn't see it that way. She was part of his crew. Still, she'd been his engineer long enough for him to know, she could do her own dickering. She didn't need him. But at the same time he wanted this 'thing' off his ship.

"I appreciate you comin by so early." Kaylee said.

"Miss Kaylee, If this thing works half as well as I have learned from your former pilot, it will have been well worth waking up a little early for."

"He ain't been blabbing all over town – has he?" Kaylee looked worried.

"I assure you, no. The man is now in my employ and has been sworn to secrecy."

"Good, cause I don't want nobody else to know about this."

"You're right to be keeping this to yourself. Things have a way of getting around on this rock and Eavesdown is not the safest place. You don't want your invention to be stolen."

"Well there ain't nothin gonna get stole." Kaylee said. "It's all up here, mostly." She pointer to her head, but held her bag a little tighter. "That mess back there won't be nothin without – well without me."

Murphy gave her a worried look. "You're taking a bit of a chance, you know. You should be careful."

Mal stood back a ways, keeping his eyes and ears on the transaction. He didn't know this Murphy fellow, but heard good things from Kaylee about him. He sounded pretty much on the up and up, seemed to know his wares well enough, and had a good honest look about him. But still – it worried Mal what he had to say about others and what they were willing to do for this thing of Kaylee's. That kind of trouble he didn't like courting.

"I'm sure the investments and the development facilities I'm prepared to offer you are suitable and the security will be much better than adequate. I'll have a crew here as soon as the sun touches sky."

Kaylee took a last look at the papers that Murphy had brought with him. They looked fair enough and the investor's portfolio was more than adequate. Her old friend wasn't taking advantage of her at all, but clearly understood that there was a part in this for him. Kaylee signed the papers.

"Thanks again for comin so quick like. Don't think I could have done this for no one else."

Murphy took her hand when she offered it. That was all he really needed and she felt the same.

"I'll get these to the pit of snakes I call my lawyers today."

"I think you have a deal, Mr. Murphy." She replied.

"If you don't mind me asking, why did you come to me with this? Why not bring it to the Core Companies or that man Gunter your always dealing with?"

"Well." Kaylee thought a bit. "I wouldn't get nothin out of them folks in the Core. They'd take my baby here and kill it. And Gunter – I don't trust him a jot."

The old gentleman laughed.

"You're a smart girl Kaylee." Mal interjected.

"You can go over these papers in detail with the layers later today, get the final dots and crosses. Make it all legal. I'll send a limo by about noon to pick up you and your things."

"You?" Mal piped in from behind, in a genuinely confused tone. "You mean to say – Kaylee?"

"Yes Captain." I'm afraid Miss Kaylee is no longer in your employ." Murphy said, handing the captain a copy of the papers they had just signed. "The compensation is outlined here and I trust it will be acceptable."

"Woe, wait a minute. Kaylee?"

"I tried to tell you Cap'n." The engineer said sadly. "It don't go without me."

Mal quickly opened the contract and scanned for the termination clauses and the compensation. He was momentarily dumbstruck.

"But." Was all he could manage to say.

"Captain." Murphy replied. "Nelson wasn't the only witness to yesterday's events and this kind of break though is worth a lot – to many. You may not like it, but for the next few hours your job description has changed."

"What are you triyin to say?"

"Unlike you, Captain, there are those that would covet this 'Masterpiece' for themselves, of which I am one." Murphy was being flat out honest with Mal. "And there are those that would kill to keep it from being made."

Mal listened intently now. He didn't like the sound of what he was hearing.

"I'm not a greedy man Captain, I don't mind sharing. It's those others, like Capreson, Wallen or Blue Sun that I'd be worried about. They run a billion credit industry and won't want something like this to see the light of day. For the next few hours – you keep her safe."

4


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine – The Eleventh Hour

32045:

Unification Year 026:

Day 1:

Hour 0621.

The next day.

Mal was more than relieved when Murphy and his men left with the 'wu yong hu che' in their trucks and it was finally off his ship. Serenity felt like his again. Simple, wholesome, home.

He'd watched as Murphy's crew loaded the bao-you gong ju carefully on their trucks. It was as if it were valuable, which he was now somewhat privy to understand that it was, but he was still happy to see it go. It had brought a character to Serenity that he didn't care for, a kind of evil underbelly of what she could be, not what she was. Mal didn't like the attention she was getting from the other captains in the Eavesdown spaceport. They were all buzzing about it.

' _How'd they do that run? Something's special about that ship. Keep an eye on that one.'_

He hated it.

All in all, though, it wasn't as bad as being surrounded by soldiers intent on killing you, so he chocked up his uneasy feeling to nerves and waved to Murphy's moving crew as they left.

It was this next part that he wasn't looking forward to. Saying good-bye to Kaylee. That was going to be hard for him. Short of Zoe, Kaylee had been with him the longest. From the time that he'd met her, he'd taken a shine to the little one. Well – naked under the drive couple was not the memory he was searching for, but still. He really hadn't seen this coming.

"Sir." Zoe prompted him back to the present.

He sighed. "You trying to tell me I ain't got a crew no more, aren't you Zoe?"

"It had crossed my mind, Sir."

"Simon have any trouble finding a place at the hospital?"

"No Sir. For some reason they thought he was already on staff. Been in there enough over the last few." Zoe said flatly. "He'll be back for his things at noon. Likely all to fit in that one bag of his."

Mal shook his head. "Odd one that."

The two stood for a bit at the end of the ramp and watched as the trucks pulled away.

"Kaylee says there's a good mechanic needs a new ship. Name's Maggie O'Reilly. Comes highly recommended."

"Sir? Didn't both trucks leave?" Zoe asked nodding to the lone vehicle on the street.

A third truck, identical to those that had just left, was still parked out in the still sleeping market street. They had been so intent on getting the strange contraption off the ship; they hadn't kept track of what Murphy had warned. How many workmen had come in and out? Who was left behind?

"Where's Kaylee?"

"Packing." Zoe said, grabbing her rifle and chambering a round in a snap.

Mal grabbed Zoe by the shoulder as she tuned to the airlock, stopping her from entering the hold. He locked on to her eyes with a look she hadn't seen for near a decade, but she understood it immediately. Serenity was now a trap.

"They'll be headed to the front to find her, staking out top fore, right and left waiting for us." He said. "Behind and maybe at the back hatch."

"I got left sir."

He nodded his acknowledgement, as they readied their weapons. "Go on…" He silently counted down three fingers, two, one and they went. Both warriors rolled into the cargo bay simultaneously. As expected, a rifleman was positioned on either side at the top of the forward stair. Two shots later they were crumpled on the gangway motionless. Zoe turned and shot the third at the back an instant later.

"No one leaves here 'til I get back." Mal ordered. "Shut this up tight, lock it down. You take front, I'll get Kaylee."

"Yes sir." Zoe responded.

The Captain was across the hold before the airlock was shut. Mal knew where Kaylee would be, had no doubt of it, and that was not in her bunk. She would be spending her last minutes with her ship. She would be in her engine room. Now it was just a matter of getting there without dying and before whoever was here figured it out too.

Zoe made her way up the front stair shortly after. From here she would hold this ground until Mal returned with their mechanic. It was their way out. It was their way to safety.

" **2-4? Confirm targets down."**

" **Cherrrt** "

" **2-4 confirm."** The com cracked again, as Zoe picked it up. "They know we're here, Sir."

Mal slipped in next to the rear hatch, picked up the third man's com-unit and gave Zoe the thumbs up. He crept through the hatch and another shot soon followed.

" **Lounge Clear. Infirmary Clear. Heading up the stairs."**

He didn't much care if they knew he was coming. This was his ship and he'd be damned if he let some hudan-nucai would run him off it.

"Kaylee!" Mal called. "Lock the door and get small! Now!"

A shot hit the wall to his right and he returned fire. A rifle tumbled down the steps as the gunman hit the floor.

"Cap'n?" Kaylee's question came from the engine room. She sounded confused and scared.

"Do it now!"

He heard the engine room door shut and knew Kaylee had bought some time. Mal charged up the stair, stopping at the second bend. Three bullets hit the wall.

At the same time Zoe made her way to the top hatch and glanced around the corner. The upper airlock was open. That's how they got in. They'd slipped a man into the moving crew and opened the back door. She ducked low and slipped through the hatch.

" **Hall Clear, Galley hot."** Zoe called. **"Coming your way."**

" **Gorram, they're using our Com!"** A voice yelled.

" **Target Located."** Shouted another voice. **"Converge on the engine room."**

Shots rang out from the galley and the bridge simultaneously. Both Zoe and Mal were pinned down in the access halls. Neither could get to the upper deck.

"Ta ma de." Mal cursed. "Zoe!"

"Locked down, Sir." She yelled over the gunfire. "They have the Bridge and Galley. Eight to ten."

They were also at the engine room door, maybe a half dozen more of them, but they didn't have Kaylee yet. Still, they didn't have a lot of time. The engine room was small. Once they got through the door it wouldn't take long to find her. Sixteen on two. This didn't look to turn out well.

"Damn fine day to die." Mal muttered.

The Captain prepared himself for an 'all out' charge on the rear hall. Mal was resolved. He had to rush the room and kill as many of them as he could or his little mechanic didn't stand a chance. Zoe would have to clean up the rest.

The Captain, however, knew his ship far too well, every nook and every cranny, every compartment, every squeak and every knock. So when he heard the ping and scraping sound in the rear he immediately stopped. The noise was normally associated with a rat in the core housing. He never worried about them much, they'd get cooked off on first burn, but this one was big – and it wasn't a rat.

"Smart girl." Mal mumbled to himself "Zoe! Fall back and hold the air lock. Secure the top on your way out."

"Door won't hold for but a minute, Sir."

"It will be long enough."

Gunfire came from the galley and the bridge again.

"Yes sir." She answered between gun blasts.

Zoe retreated to the hatch and jammed it shut with a rifle from one of the fallen intruders then slid down the rail quickly. Mal took two shots around the corner and then hurried to the bottom of the steps. Kaylee was climbing down through the engine and should be coming out the vent in the back of the passenger modules. He needed to get there first.

Two men in neatly pressed black suits arrived at the rustic spaceport around 0700 hours. They stood by the lone truck rubbing their chins and wringing their hands nervously, neither looking very happy. The Wallen crew had arrived before them and was currently inside the vessel. This would make their job that much harder, if not nigh on impossible.

The two had come ready to negotiate, each with a large briefcase of money and the requisite complicated legal paperwork. Their expensive dark glasses said 'Core Corporate backing' and their pleasant smiles screamed 'you have something we really, really want'. But they also had other means at their disposal.

Wallen, however, had gotten there first and had no intention of playing nice. Having inadequate research funds to work with this entrepreneur, their solution to this problem was a more funereal one. When the gunfire broke out on the small freighter, though, the Blue Sun representatives knew their plan was no longer possible. It was just a matter of time now. Money could not resolve this impasse.

If Wallen made it back to their truck, then Blue Sun would take their prize by force. If they killed the girl, then they'd call it a day and caulk up the missed opportunity to fate. The two company operatives would just clean up the mess and head home. But if the Alliance port police arrived, which was likely now with all this damned gunfire, all bets were off. Blue Sun might just have to live with the competition. All they could do now was sit back and wait.

The captain was there when Kaylee shimmed out of the vent. She was hot and burned and scared. Her hair and clothing were singed, but that was not unusual for the girl. The blisters on her arms and face from the radiation, however, and the somewhat cooked smell to her were wholly disconcerting. Cradled in her arms was an engine part, which looked like a rear coupling, held like a baby wrapped in swaddling.

"Where'd they come from Cap'n?" Kaylee said as she collapsed to the floor.

"I don't know. But we got to get you out of here."

"No. This is what they're after, Cap'n. This is what's gotta get outta here."

Kaylee held the part out to the captain as if she wanted him to take it from her. It was in her eyes. ' _Take this and get it to old Murphy_.' But Mal was having no part of that. His plan did not entail leaving his engineer behind to die. So he pushed the contraption back into Kaylee's arms.

"Shush yourself Kaylee and stay low."

Mal took her by the hand and led her past the Infirmary, sending a shot up the stairwell for good measure. He heard two shots form Zoe's rifle in the hold ahead.

"Zoe!?"

"Lock secured and open." She gave status. "But they got the high ground again, Sir."

"Count?"

"Three Sir. Two back and one fore. Maybe more." Shots continued sporadically.

Mal took Kaylee by the chin and turned her face to his. She looked scare, frazzled. Kaylee hated this. Someone had made her home into a battleground and it weren't right.

"Now you listen to me Kaylee and you listen good."

She nodded. "Uh huh."

"You get in right here, under me." He pulled her in close to his side. "and you run with me. You don't stop for nothing. Not me, not pain, not the angels callin. You got it?"

"Uh huh."

The sound of footsteps echoed down the back stairs. They were out of time.

"Zoe, cover fire, back now!"

Mal pulled his mechanic through the door and she ran. He shot over her head twice and she saw a man fall. Zoe was right in front of her firing to the back over top of her. The room erupted with the sound of thunderous battle.

Kaylee did what the captain said. She ran and didn't stop. Not for the noise, not for the shoutin, not for the pain in her right shoulder, not even for the pearly gate, which she swore Zoe was now guarding. The last thing she remembered was the push in her back, like a sledgehammer had hit her, and she was flyin. Flyin to heaven.

She woke up there in heaven, covered in gauze. Heaven in a hospital, with Simon by her side. There were tubes and machines and far too many strangers for her liking. She didn't know how long it had been there. She only knew that she wasn't dead. There ain't so much pain in heaven.

Mal didn't make it there. It was probably all them sins and vices he always talked about. He was left back on Serenity, like Wash, a permanent part of her fabric now. Shepard Book once told her the Captain wouldn't have it any other way, but that's not how Kaylee saw it. She never set foot in Serenity again after that. She knew it was her fault he was dead – hers and her damned engine. Her fault Inara was alone now. Her fault his kids had no daddy. It just weren't fair. Yet Shepherd Book had told her a long time ago, that so few things in life were.

9


	10. Chapter 10

Epilogue – Sunrise in the Parlor

32051:

Unification Year 034:

Day 66:

Hour 0746.

This morning.

Zoe stood behind the two siblings as they sat sheepishly in Kaylee's parlor at the tea table. The room was bright, the morning sun streaming in through the many windows and the room smelled of honeysuckle, just like her home on Harvest. It was neat and all 'Simon' like, the way Kaylee like to keep things now.

The two hadn't wanted to come, it felt way too much like an interventions to both of them, but Zoe fancied that they needed to hear what her friend had to say. She was right. After listening the whole night through, Nathan sat quietly in a mild form of shock, while Terra was near tears.

"How come you never told us this before Aunt Kay?" Terra asked.

"Cause – I don't know. I was afraid. I been runnin from it for so long."

"Oh." Terra pondered this. Everyone had their own demons, she guessed. She wasn't unique in that way.

"I told you cause I love you two. I didn't want you to end up runnin like that – like me." Kaylee said.

"You can't spend your life runnin, and that ain't what Serenity's for." Zoe added. "So don't."

"Terra. Talk to your Ma. She'll listen, she loves you." Kaylee insisted.

"I will." Terra nodded.

"Nathan." Kaylee took him by the hand. "Go home from time to time, would ya? It ain't like in another Verse or nothin. It's there for you."

He looked down, not saying anything.

"She's mad at him for dyin, that don't mean she didn't love him." Kaylee said. "And it weren't your fault he died."

Nathan looked her directly in the eyes. "Weren't yours neither Kay. He was just doing what he did best."

"Takin care of his crew." Zoe finished, quickly turning to the windows. She didn't want none of them to spot the lone tear before she had a chance to wipe it away. She sighed big. "So when are you coming to Harvest Kaylee?"

"Ma misses you something fierce." Terra added.

"We'll be there, end of the month. Simon's got some time to take. If he don't – I'll kill him."

"And Son Lee?" Terra asked. "We ain't seen her since Shannon came to train."

"You're going to have to work that one, Terra." Kaylee laughed. "There ain't enough time in the Verse for that girl."

"There's room for you all on Serenity." Nathan offered.

Kaylee looked down at her tea, and stirred it, even though it was quite cool enough. There were lots of good memories onboard that ship, but her freshest memories were sad.

"I'm not sure I'm ready for that – not just yet." She said quietly. "But someday."

Nathan nodded.

"Right now, Maggie's got my hammock." She argued.

"You know where she'll be." Zoe said.

"You take care of her for me 'til then." Kaylee ordered. "Promise me."

Zoe walked to her side and took her hand. "I promise."

End of Book One

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